Netbook freezes randomly

I am happy for you. This is a great solution, even if it took extremely long.

I am currently working on the 751, the one that does not seem to have the freezer problem and have not had any issues at all. I gave the 533 to my wife who likes its light weight and smaller form actor, but she says that the 10.1" screen is bit small for her in some occasions. I do agree there, even a standard GMail interface is a bit crowded on a screen that small.

But over all, all good here.

 

After 4 weeks i got my netbook back with replaced motherboard (another z520). testing...

 

@GuHaid,
thanks boss... and for your offer about a computer before... really appreciated...

my unit is working well so far, only that i find it a bit slower than it used to... i am wondering if the z530 is an upgrade or a downgrade because when i check my system properties, it says that my processor is @ 1.60ghz.. the z520 showed me @1.66... i'm not sure how much difference that ..60 would make, i'm just wondering...

anyway, i hope it stays this way for good from now...



@MadCroc
where are you at?

 

HOLY F****G CRAP!!!

After 1 week of using i decided to reinstall OS (haven't done after warranty service). Whole day i spent making this piece of s**t see OS on my flash-driver. I even tried to connect dvd-rom via IDE->USB device. And after all of tries i got this!

Error 0701: USB Over Current On HC/Port - Bus:00H Dev :1DH Fun:01H / Port:00H

This pops up just afer turning on. Tomorrow i'll go to the service....again.

UPD: The error doesn't appear. Trying to install OS. Now another problem - indicator of battery doesn't react. I'm shocked.

UPD2: Re-installed OS, but there is something wrong with charging now. It doesn't charge using its adapter. Anyway tomorrow there will be a travel for me through whole city to the service.... again.

 

Today i was using the DriverMax Program after some weeks, than i realized that i had a new driver for the Z520.

Before i download the driver, i had the Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 500 : 8.14.10.2023.

When i finished the download, i saw the new driver, its Intel Corporation US15 Embedded Graphics Chipset Function 0.

What is this? Do someone recomend this driver? Do i need back for my last GMA Intel drive?

------------

Another thing, wich is the better BIOS for the Z520? I didnt put the Z530.

 

I'm hoping I fixed my freezing problem: I've used my AO751h running Windows 7 Premium for about 20 hours over the last 3 days (maybe 6-8 sessions, battery and adapter) and not a single freeze. This is a first, as I haven't been able to get through a single Win 7 backup in the last 2 mths without the dang unit hanging.

I finally went heads-down on this problem about a week ago, and here's what I did:

[1] Updated the available software & apps from the Acer support site -- no benefit whatsoever with regard to freezing problem
[2] Flashed BIOS to 3212 (had flashed previously but not this version) -- unit still froze, but seemed to behave for longer periods (my imagination?)
[3] Installed latest Atheros driver -- saw where ubuntu users eliminated freeze by switching out wifi drivers
[4] Installed latest Intel GMA 500 graphics chipset -- some thoughtful users posted suspicions about this; I installed developers' driver right off intel site

In the end, I saw phenomenal stability after the combination BIOS + GMA500 + Atheros updates (in fact, not a single freeze since). My tests?

[a] One paragon full backup--no freeze
Two back-to-back windows 7 full backups--no freezes
[c] Three skype v5 sessions (one @ 12 min, two @ 5 min)--no freezes
[d] 2 hours general use, full battery run-down--no freezes
[e] 8-10 hours general use A/C adapter--no freezes

I'm confident that, just a week ago, the unit would have frozen up on every single test (and I would have wanted to chuck it at Acer's CEO--with lethal consequences).

Here are my driver signatures for the ones that seem to have made the difference:

[*] BIOS: v3212 (date=2010.03.23)
[*] GMA-500: v8.14.10.2030 (date=2010.09.16)
[*] Atheros-AR5007EG: v8.0.0.238 (date=2009.10.05)

Hope this helps!

 

Hi folks,

Another dejected Aspire One user joining the forums here to post about the misery that is owning an AO-751H!

Short story, I bought one for my wife in late May from MLN Computers Melbourne so she could surf/email/Facebook from the armchair. It froze on average once a week.

Recently I decided to buy some more RAM and bought a 2Gb stick of Corsair memory. Before the RAM was delivered, the Acer froze again so I decided to open a case with their warranty department.
In between receiving the eParcel consignment note to send the unit in for warranty repair I ran the new RAM for about 4 days with no freezes - this is not long enough to test if this had solved the issue.

In my dealing with Acer I mentioned this thread, and that users had found that the only real fix was to replace the mobo with the one containing the Z530 cpu. I'm due to receive the netbook back in a day or so so I'll post my results here.

Regards, Tony.

 

Update: I just unwrapped the laptop and the repair advice was "replaced faulty hard disk drive". My repair team identified the following: "Unable to boot from the hard disk drive".

I'm not sure why that is, it was booting fine when it left here! I had wiped the recovery partition and installed Windows 7 via usb drive; I'm not sure if this had any effect on the system. I didn't have BitLocker or any encryption turned on, and it was set to auto-login to Windows, hence no need for a password.

Anyhow, just finished scrolling up and down through a large (133 page) MS Word document for around a minute and no freezing! That always used to make it freeze after 10 or so seconds. I've just installed the 2Gb of Corsair RAM and will try further testing.

Update 2: Now about 2 hours after I've received it back from repairs, have installed Google Earth and have the Earth spinning in fullscreen mode and no lockups after 5 minutes. Also installed Skype and no lockup (although have noone to test a call with, just running video in test mode).

Update 3: Another hour later I'm running Google Earth in DirectX 9 mode with the Earth spinning, Yawcam webcam software, scrolling a 133 page MS Word document, and Prime95 stress test simultaneously with no problems (plus all the garbage that comes preloaded with the factory WinXP install). I'm amazed at how fast I can toggle between all the processes too. Definitely the 2Gb ram upgrade is helping.

 

Are you sure they didn't replace the motherboard? I'm shocked if it was only the hard drive. Other's have stated they tried a solid state hard drive and it still froze.

 

According to the schedule of works they sent me, yes. According to device manager stating I have a Z520 cpu, yes. They definitely replaced the hard drive. I verified it first by reading the SMART info showing the power on hours as 2, and opened the cover and removed the drive. The manufacture date was September 2010, and I bought the netbook in May. It's a 160 Gb Western Digital for everyones information; unfortunately I don't know what brand the old drive was.

 

I can say, DEFINITELY, happens the same with me.

My father bought two AO751H. Mine was with all drivers UP with windows 7 Professional.

My father keep his AO751H with XP.

Than, i took his netbook and made some test for two weeks, with Z520.

....incredible....NO FREEZING. I think...before my father bought this acer..they made some test and replaced the hard driver.

its perfect, now i can see how big its is the diference without freezing problem.

 

whatever the cause is, and whatever the solution was, this model shouldn't have been put out in the first place...

it's just unfair to the customers who got a lemon to have paid for the full price yet not receive the performance they expected to begin with...

 

i really WONT ever buy any of acer's thing after my exp with this example. asus and only asus. u cant even imagine what means warranty service in Russia. 3 weeks just for replacing AC-adapter.

 

i agree...

but is asus really a good choice??? i'm asking coz i am not a techie and wouldn't know.. i could only rely on feedback by other people like you...

 

omfg... now i have a problem with battery. it does hold charge after i got back the netbook from warranty service. :lol: i can only laugh coz there is nothing left for me.

CaMoTe, i'm not an expert either. just expirience. my old asus x50sl works 3 years perfectly. none of any problems. there was samsung p28 before. died, like so many other examples, because of serial defect of motherboard (southbridge) after 2 years. and this acer's one.... so im just saying.

 

Re: New bios fixed problem

I'm wondering what is the version of BIOS do you have?
Cos' I've already tried to update the BIOS but it's still freeze randomly..
I've already updated almost all the drivers to the latest version but it didn't help much..
Thanks in advanced..

 

i suggest you get it back to acer...

 

and they keep coming....

tsk tsk tsk....

 

I had massive random freezes with my AO751H - I installed the new GMA500 released by Intel - since then, no freezes. Maybe you guys should try that out.

 

FWIW, I installed Ubuntu One v 10.4 on this laptop. I can't say it is freeze free, but it maybe locks up once a day rather than once an hour.